Ligatures for clarinets or the like



May 14, 1957 D. BONADE 2,791,929

LIGATURES FOR CLARINETS OR THE. LIKE.

Filed April 1, 1955 INVENTOR. W

W BY M'LM United States Patent LIGATURES FOR CLARINETS OR THE LIKE Daniel Bonade, New Hope, Pa.

Application April 1, 1955, Serial No. 498,493 6 Claims. crat -ass My invention relates to reed-type musical instruments, such as clarinet-s and saxophones, and its object is to improve the quality and the intensity of the tones pro duced with these instruments.

Ligatures which have been hitherto used for the attachment of reeds to mouth pieces of instruments compress the cross-section of the reed along its entire or almost entire width. I have found that this prevents clean and strong vibrations of the reed and that much better tones are produced by a reed that has broad, freely vibrating margins. Hence, a more specific object of my invention is to provide a ligature which grips the reed only along lines nearer to the longitudinal center line of the reed than to the longitudinal edges whereby broad margins of the reed have free outer surfaces.

Further objects are to grip the reed along two longitudinal lines close to, but spaced from each other and from the center line, thereby to leave free the outer surface of a narrow central zone of the reed, and thereby to make possible vibrations of the reed about node lines formed by the gripping lines.

Other objects are to attain these results with simple and inexpensive means, and to provide a ligature that achieves these results without departing substantially from the appearance of an ordinary ligature and from the manner of its attachment.

Still other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of an exemplifying embodiment of my invention, from the appended claims and from the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows a top view of an illustrative embodiment of a ligature according to my invention, attached to a clarinet mouth piece.

Fig. 2 shows a cross-section taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a cross-section taken along the line 33 in Fig. 2.

All figures are represented on an enlarged scale. The thickness of some parts is exaggerated for the sake of clear representation.

Referring to the drawing, numeral 4 indicates the body of a clarinet mouth piece. This body has an inner channel terminating in an outlet 5. A reed 6 overlies this outlet, reaches to the left side about as far as the tip of the body 4 and extends to the right side beyond the outlet 5 in contact with the body 4.

The reed 6 is aflixed to the body 4 by a ligature which comprises a ring 7 surrounding a portion of the reed positioned beyond the outlet 5 and the adjacent zone of the body 4. The ring has a substantially cylindrical or slightly conical shape corresponding to the shape of the surrounded portion of the body 4 and may have cut-outs or windows, for example, the windows 8. A slot 9 extends through the side of the ring from one flat end of the ring to the other whereby the width of the ring is adjustable or compressible.

Means are provided for this compression and are preferably constructed in the following manner: Two pairs of 2,791,929 Patented May 14, 1957 eyelets are permanently afiixed to the outside of the ring 7, each pair comprising eyelets 11 and 12 positioned in line at opposite sides of the slot 9. Each eyelet 11 has a bore for the passage of the shaft of a thumb screw 13. Each eyelet 12 is threaded like a nut for engagement with the screw 13. The screw 13 has a collar 14 which, when the screw is tightened, presses the eyelet 11 toward the eyelet 12 whereby the ring 7 is compressed.

According to my invention, two strips 15 are permanently afiixed to the inside of the ring 7 and form rigid inward projections of this ring. Preferably, the ring and the strips 15 are made of sheet metal. The strips 15 are positioned between the ring 7 and the reed 6 and space the latter elements from each other. The strips are narrow in the peripheral direction of the ring. In the direc-' 'tion perpendicular to this peripheral direction, that is in the axial direction from one flat ring end to the other, the strips 15 are long, preferably as long as the ring. The strips extend close to each other symmetrically and near to the longitudinal center line of the reed 6 and leave free broad longitudinal margins of this reed. The distance of the strips from the center line of the reed is preferably considerably smaller than this margin or than the distance of the strips from the longitudinal edges of the reed.

The slot 9 and the adjacent eyelets 11 and 12 may be arranged at any desired part of the rings circumference. in the preferred arrangement however, the slot is positioned just over the center line of the reed. in this case, the strips 15 extend preferably along both sides of the slot 9, their distance forming a continuation of the slot 9 and their facing edges being flush with the slot edges.

I desire it understood that my invention is not conned to the particular embodiment shown and described, he same being merely illustrative, and that my invention may be carried out in other ways within the scope of the ppended clawithoutdeparting from the spirit of my nvention as it is obvious that the particular embodiment shown and described is only one of the many that may be employed to attain the objects of my invention.

Having described the nature of my invention, What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A reed-type musical instrument, comprising a slotted compressible ring, a reed reaching into said ring and a strip affixed to the inside of said ring, forming a rigid inward projection thereof, contacting said reed and being much narrower than said reed in the peripheral and long in the axial direction of said ring.

2. A reed-type musical instrument, comprising a ring having a narrow slot extending from one flat ring end to the other, eyelets atfixed to the outside of said ring at both sides of said slot, screws passing through said eyelets for compression of said ring, a reed reaching into said ring and two narrow strips affixed to the inside of said ring, forming rigid inward projections thereof contacting said reed, being much narrower than said reed and extending close to each other in the direction from one flat ring end to the other.

3. A reed-type musical instrument, comprising a ring having a narrow slot extending from one flat ring end to the other, eyelets ailixed to the outside of said ring at both sides of said slot, screws passing through said eyelets for compression of said ring, a reed reaching into said ring and two narrow strips aihxed to the inside of said ring, forming rigid inward projections thereof contacting said reed, being much narrower than said reed extending close to each other in the direction from one flat ring end to the other at both sides of said slot.

A month piece for a musical instrument, comprising a channeled body having an outlet, a broad reed overlying said outlet and having a portion extending beyond said outlet in contact with said body, and a ligature for pressing said reed portion to said body, said ligature comprising a compressible ring surrounding said reed portion and said body, and two narrow strips forming inward projections of said ring, extending close to each other between said ring and said reed in the longitudinal direction of said reed and being positioned nearer to the longitudinal center line of said reed than to its longitudinal edges. 5. A mouth piece for a musical instrument, comprising a channeled body having an outlet, a broad reed overlying said outlet and having a portion extending beyond said outlet in contact with said body, and a ligature for pressing said reed portion to said body, said ligature comprising a compressible ring surrounding said reed portion and said body, and a narrow strip forming an inward projection of said ring and extending along and near-the longitudinal center line of said reed, said reed being spaced from said ring by said strip and having broad longitudinal margins with free outer surfaces.

6. A mouth piece for a musical instrument, comprising a channeled body having an outlet, a broad reed overlying said outlet and having a portion extending beyond said outlet in contact with said body, and a ligature for pressing said reed portion to said body, said ligature comprising a ring having a narrow slot extending from one fiat ring end to the other, eyelets afiixed to the outside of said ring at both sides of said slot, screws passing through said eyelets for compression of said ring, and two narrow strips forming inward projections of said ring extending at both sides of said slot between said ring and said reed and being positioned nearer to'the longitudinal center line of said reed than to its longitudinal edges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,648,246 Mueller Aug. 11, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 746,871 Germany Aug. 28, 1944 626,478 Great Britain July 15, 1949 

